Buying Australian Made

The EOFY (= end of financial year sale) in Australia is a BIG thing. Normally I don't take much notice but this year I wanted to get some new furniture and a new rug for the living room - the room which just didn't feel right yet.

I really wanted to buy some Australian made furniture but this was harder than first thought. Most of the furniture was more or less made to order and was therefore extremely expensive. But finally I found a shop which makes their furniture in Australia. The timber came from NZ which is borderline but closer than anywhere else.

We bought two bookshelves - a smaller one for this corner I really disliked before.

Now this corner keeps my most valuable books - all of my 'antiques'.

The other bookshelf is a bit bigger. I'm still looking for something decorative for on top of the bookshelf but so far haven't found anything suitable. We'll see. 

When I told Steve that I found those Australian-made bookcases, he wanted to add a new entertainment unit. Our old one was bulky for the old style television sets and I know how often we hit our toes on it.  

We also got this rug which isn't made in Australia but it's nice and it's the right size and colour. After searching and searching for an Australian made rug, this one will do.

We both love the new look and soon will add a new coffee table. We have something special and locally made in mind. Stay tunes....

Buying Australian products is becoming more and more important to me, however sometimes they're hard to find. Most textiles come from Asia, are cheap, dyed with chemicals and don't life longer than 4 washes. And most of the time, you don't even find what you're looking for.

One of the things I have been looking for was a rectangular pillow for on top of my rocking chair. For some reason the cushion ended around my neck and my head is always leaning on the timber. Now where I have a sewing machine I can make my own which I did.

When I saw this embroidery file advertised, I knew this would be perfect for my rocking chair pillow. I bought it and started to look for the right coloured fabric which I have now found. So one night I started to embroider my pillow and I LOVE it! The size is perfect, the shape is perfect, the picture is so pretty and so colours turned out to be amazing! I'm so happy and so proud - this is my favourite spot!

If you don't know how an embroidery machine works, you actually load a file into the machine and the machine embroiders but YOU choose the colours. Every single colour in this picture was chosen by me and I think it just looks absolutely amazing. I feel so accomplished - making something so beautiful myself and for me...

To further increase my mood I received a parcel from my Sister with my favourite German magazines. I made myself a nice Cappuccino, sat on my rocking chair and started reading.

Isn't it nice when you can make something yourself, isn't it? I'm thinking of starting to learn woodwork, maybe I can make our next bookshelves? Also they will not look as nice as the ones we just bought, I would e very proud to have something in our home which we made ourselves. As it is so hard to find good quality Australian made items here, I think I will try to make as much as I can in the future. I started with growing our own food, buying local meat, making our own products for cleaning and skincare and have started knitting and sewing to make our own clothes and decoration. I have learnt a lot and I'll keep on learning. But what I've learnt so far makes me proud, feeling accomplished independent and extremely satisfied. Of course making a jumper takes a lot longer than just buying one but you also appreciate it more and it is exactly what you wanted - even with the little mistakes.

What do you do these days? Can you buy local products, do you make them yourself or do you prefer to buy what you need?